Devices and structures at nano-scales are becoming increasingly useful. Manufacturing such structures efficiently however remains challenging.
For example, it is known to fabricate high aspect ratio atomic force microscope (“AFM”) tips (also popularly known as “AFM probes”) using focused ion beam (“FIB”) to “machine” the tips one by one. This method is versatile and is not limited to producing AFM probes. However, because each probe is fabricated individually, it is a slow and costly process. It is also known to fabricate a high aspect ratio AFM probe by attaching or growing a carbon nanotube at the apex of a low aspect ratio base (which may be a low aspect ratio probe itself). However, it is very challenging to attach or grow a carbon nanotube at a precisely desired position with a fixed direction and length. It also may be a challenge to scale up the carbon nanotube process.
AFM technology is becoming increasingly mature and more and more routinely used in advanced research and industrial research and development laboratories. AFM probe is a consumable. A demand therefore exists for more uniformly manufactured and low cost AFM probes.
To achieve the required atomic or molecular scale resolution, an AFM probe itself also must have a thickness of comparable scale. AFM probe is only one example to illustrate the need for providing manufactured articles that are of nano-scale. Here, nano-scale articles generally refer to articles of which at least one of the structural dimensions, such as width, radius, thickness and the like, is more appropriately measured in nanometers, i.e., generally at the atomic and molecular scales and commonly in the general range of one nanometer to no more than a few hundred nanometers. More and more products are miniaturized which requires more nano-scale structures to be manufactured in a more efficient and reproducible manner.
The foregoing creates challenges and constraints for providing a more efficient method of fabricating nano-scale structures and devices and, in particular, providing pillar-like structures with high aspect ratio manufactured using such efficient and reproducible methods. It is an object of the present invention to mitigate or obviate at least one of the above mentioned disadvantages.